2700 Miles!

07 May 2012 | Chester, Md.

We’re back! It was a wonderful trip, and it’s good to be home again, too. Today, we left our beautiful anchorage and had an uneventful crossing of the Chesapeake to the Eastern Bay. At one point, the wind gusts topped 25 knots and it looked like a thunderstorm was on the horizon, but the weather calmed and other than some crab pots, it was an easy motor/sail up to the Kent Narrows Drawbridge and into our home slip at Queen’s Landing. It’s been an amazing 7 months. There was so much to see and do and the time disappeared. It seems like we only got started and it was time to make our way north again. We met so many interesting people who all had a story to tell and welcome advice to give to us as first-timers on the waterway. Everyone was charming and hospitable. They all have a place in our hearts and we wish them all safe voyages home, wherever that may be. We saw wildlife ranging from unusual jellyfish to manatees and miniature Key Deer. We discovered hamlets crafted from time long ago and thriving cities forging well ahead into the 21st century. We rode every historic trolley we could find and never missed an opportunity to rent/borrow bicycles and see the scenery. And what amazing scenery there was! Cumberland Island, Key West, and Bahia Honda were eye-popping. New Tea Kettle Creek was the most secluded anchorage ever. You cannot believe how awe inspiring it is to be in the middle of sea grass with millions of stars overhead and not a sound. In all, we travelled 2700 miles since October, most on the ICW but there were 3 days out in the ocean. The whole time , Dreamboat was basically a trawler going about 8 mph. We only put the sails up a handful of times because of the narrowness of the waterway. Since wind power wasn’t an option, we used 500 gallons of diesel. Over the course of the trip, we stayed in 42 marinas, picked up 4 mooring balls, and anchored in 10 wonderful coves. In our 60 actual travel days underway, we went through 70 drawbridges and 3 locks. I can’t even count how many good meals we ate out and how many 5 o’clock happy hours we had with new friends. Dreamboat performed like a champ! There were no problems with the boat, except for an actual grounding and 3 “bumps” on the bottom. We were rocked to sleep each night in a comfortable bed and looked forward each evening to another happy day on the ICW or in our slip. It was truly the voyage of a lifetime. The Admiral

We are spending this winter traveling the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway from our home dock on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay across from Annapolis, Maryland. We will sail down the bay to Norfolk, Va. [...] There we will enter the ICW, travel through the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds and down behind the barrier islands off North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida as far as Fort Lauderdale. We will have to go out in the ocean around Miami due to a bridge that we can't fit under. We will then travel down the east side of the Florida Keys all the way to Key West. We plan to be back in the Cheasapeake next Spring.